Chapter 2329: Unique Power
Sam disappeared in a puff of smoke as the dagger came at him. He reappeared behind the opponent.
In between he already activated his complete fusion. The opponent also used the same view. Now, they kept on disappearing and reappearing, aiming daggers at each other"s throats. Trying to kill and maim each other.
However, they were able to land a clean hit on their counterpart.
The battle became intense with every pa.s.sing second. The antic.i.p.ation is brewing in the audience as they watched. Every dagger attack was a close save. Every dodge was a close save. There is the mastery of shadow element at display and they were all for it.
The stage is once again damaged. The person in charge of rebuilding the stage for every match felt exhausted. These guys had no regard for the surroundings. He couldn"t understand why the second grade fights became so brutal and destructive all of a sudden.
It wasn"t like this in the previous years.
Of course, he forgot to account for the festered resentment they had this year. After all, in the previous years, the selection rounds were held regionally and any resentment they had stopped there on the fair ground on a stage.
Now... many people have fallen for the tricks and treachery.
Ambushes, chases... the resentment just grew consistently and this is the result of it. Everyone is angry at everyone else.
The battle on the stage is a direct representation of it.
Sam didn"t target Set academy, and the Set academy didn"t target Sam. However, because of Sam"s actions, some academies, ganged up and fought each other. Set academy in particular was betrayed by their allies and they lost two people.
So, even though this guy didn"t have much grudge against Sam, he still felt like venting his anger at Sam.
After a few clashes, when he tried another stabbing attack, Sam dodged once again.
*SWOOSH*
He pulled out another dagger out of nowhere and threw it at an empty position. Sam appeared in that exact spot. He caught the dagger with his hands.
But the impact sent him back a few feet.
Sam used that impact force to turn around and threw it back at the opponent. The opponent disappeared from his spot and appeared underneath Sam. He tried to catch Sam"s foot, but Sam slipped down the opponent"s arm as if he is sliding down a steep rock and tried to stab him.
The opponent gritted his teeth and took the stab to his shoulder. He took out a push knife, with three spikes and punched Sam in his ribs.
When the knives were about to penetrate into his skin, Sam dropped his elbow on the other party"s arm, so they barely brushed past his skin. One knife edge did leave a bitter mark though.
Usually fusion forms are semi-tangible.
Regular physical injuries wouldn"t have much impact.
But this time, both of them are experts in using the fusion form and knew how bypa.s.s that. The stab wounds are healed, but they did lose some spiritual energy because of them.
And they are still tangled up close.
They are disappearing, reappearing, climbing on each other. Stabbing each other. But they are not backing down. Sam in particular is facing the highest amount of pressure. He is on thin ice. The moment he let himself get hit with a clean shot, he would be done for.
Luckily, the single shot kills are not the expertise of the other party.
Otherwise, he wouldn"t have dared to come this close. Of course, the understanding of his battle style also helped him.
As for why he is risking so much instead of just countering the other party with some petty tricks... Sam wanted to test himself and bring out the real strength of the opponent. He wants to reveal it to the rest of the world.
While Sam is on the edge trying to save himself from the constant onslaught and fighting back at the same time, the opponent is getting restless.
"What is this?
What is happening to me?
I am clearly moving fast. At my full speed, but why do I feel like I am not moving at all? The atmosphere around me, it feels so dense. So, suffocating."
Those are his thoughts.
He is sure that the surroundings are not really effected by anything, he is also sure he is not invaded by any curse or poison.
But it felt so suffocating still.
He also has a vague idea about the reason though. It is because of the lack of progress. He is fighting, just like how he fought in the last few days, just like how he fought ever since he entered the academy realm.
However, unlike now, he always had progress.
He always managed to at least tire out the opponent, but now no matter what he did, Sam is not budging. The small attacks are not having any effect. He even doubted if Sam"s cultivation level is really lesser.
It is not a small matter to cross the cultivation levels in the Divine Plane even if its initiation.
His frustration grew.
"f.u.c.k IT"
He cursed out loud and took Sam"s dagger straight to his chest. In the fusion state, his organs won"t be injured. He would lose large amounts of his spiritual energy though.
He constricted the dagger in his chest and held Sam in place. Then he took out a similar push dagger and punched Sam on the chest several times. Sam barely dodged a few attacks, but three attacks landed cleanly.
For the first two, even using the repel style didn"t have much effect.
He was still stuck in the place. For the third one, he used the recoil style. The one he stole from
White.
This worked, the recoil style made him move far away, while sending the opponent
backwards.
*COUGH* *COUGH*
Sam went back to partial fusion while coughing and the opponent did the same.
The opponent"s expression is ice cold. He looked at Sam with some inexplicable resentment. A faint hint of dilemma flashed across his eyes before it quickly disappeared. He activated the
complete fusion once again.
But this time, it is different.
The aura is more menacing, it appeared a bit primordial and ancient. His fusion form emitted black vapors that seemed to want to corrupt everything around it. Even the stage is turning black at the spot he stood and it is spreading with every pa.s.sing second.
Sam smiled and he knew that the other party is revealing his core strength. He was waiting for
this show.
Sam also activated his complete fusion.
The opponent"s shadow spread around and a few humanoid figures appeared from the shadows. They are shadow undead. There are three undead.
Sam"s shadow also spread, but humanoid figures didn"t come from it. Instead some shadow
energy orbs that are in the size of a basketball came from it and hovered around him.
However, their energy seemed a little weird.
The opponent closed his eyes for a moment, ignoring whatever Sam has brought out.
In his opinion, it wouldn"t matter what the other party did. With this move, the other party will die no matter what.
No one of the same level has ever lived after witnessing this and if not for the fact he needs to win against Sam, he wouldn"t have brought this out in front of so many people.
When he closed his eyes, his consciousness moved to a completely different realm. A realm that always runs parallelly to the realm they are in. The Shadow realm.
In the shadow realm, he is in front of a scene that is same as the one he is facing in the
academy realm.
A scene where Sam and him are fighting on the stage. Even the shadows of the hundreds of spectators on the stands are reflected.
He scanned through the crowd quickly and his gaze landed on a few second grade students.
One of them is Rashma"s shadow, the second one is the shadow of Sam and the third one is the
shadow of himself.
He opened his eyes back in the academy realm. All of this happened in an instant and at this moment, the eyes of the shadow undead changed. Their energies also changed. All of a sudden, the surrounding spiritual energy has all been sucked by these shadows. The one of the left changed its posture and it looked awfully similar to the posture Rashma takes, the second one stood with the same posture as Sam. Loose and relaxed.
The third one stood with a dagger conjured up of dagger energy in its hands.
Sam"s smile widened even more.
This is what he wanted to see.
His energy riled up and he leapt towards his now four opponents.
The opponent himself took a step back and focused only on controlling the shadow undead.
He is mostly supplying the energy to them.
Meanwhile, Sam collided with the three shadow undead along with the orbs.